Re: Wood Fired Pizza Oven

jeremyll33 wrote:

I am dreaming of my own small pizza oven here in Bavaria but am nervious about neighbours complaining about smoke and whatever.

If one has a small oven how long does the fire remain inside before one cooks one's pizza? Does the smoke cause any nuisance to others nearby? Also how hot does the fire get inside? Can the heat damage trees nearby?

Hi Jeremy, Mine smokes for about 1/2hr gradually getting less, by the time 3/4 of an hr is up, the fire inside is so hot, that all you get coming out the chimney is a superheated haze, no smoke whatsoever! it will begin to smoke temporarily if you load more wood into it, but as long as you load a log at a time, it goes back to non-smoke within about 5 mins.

I built mine right next to a tree, and although the oven itself doesnt get hot at all outside, the heat haze from the chimney did scorch the branches I left overhanging; easily sorted though; just cut the branches back a bit

Re: Wood Fired Pizza Oven

I have to say to all the builders......wow. I am almost afraid to say that I want to build one here in Alberta, Canada. I have the platform built and it has now settled over the winter so I am ready to start the building the base for the bakeoven and the firepit and prep area. I am using recycled materials as much as possible for all the projects in my garden and have managed to get all the pieces gathered together over the last year I have piles of stone, marble, bricks, etc all over the yard and will be very happy when it is all in one pile with smoke coming out of it. I contacted our town office to make sure that there were no bylaws against a outdoor oven and then just used the ones that govern firepits...makes sence since I am putting a spit, barbeque rack in the firepit part of this project. I have 5 guys in my house and the thought of being able to put a whole small animal or bird over flames and turn a spit to cook it just speaks to the latent cave man in all of them. I have been looking at all of the pictures of the finished projects and they are to say the least spectacular and all of them are out of bricks and cement......has anyone built with cob?? Is there a reason you chose brick as opposed to cob?? I love the idea of cob, the carvability(?) and the organic look of the whole thing when it is done. I have heard that the cob takes a bit longer to heat but holds it for a long time after which is a good thing because I would like to do more than just a pizza or two in it. I want it for pizza, bread, roasts, etc where you fire once and then use it for the day or am I asking too much of the technology or am I right it all has to do with thermal mass and if I have the mass I get to keep the heat.....I have been told that a 18 inch dome is about the optimum size....is that small??The project has to be finished over the next couple of months since I am hoping to have a margaritas and mud party to stomp the cob and get the actual dome built with some friends...team building, community building kick off to summer that sort of thing. ....good excuse to drink margaritas on a midsummer's eve. After seeing the absolutely gorgeous ovens that have been built by you gentleman I almost thought about bailing on the whole project but I have this huge platform in the backyard that is waiting for it's oven......so instead I will just smile sweetly and say please.cheers all Bina

Re: Wood Fired Pizza Oven

Update on my second Pompeii build.....

Since last Saturday we have made 3 small curing fires each day.....Tuesday we started upping the tempo to fires that started lapping around the dome of the oven. Since yesterday 11/08/11 we have been pushing the fires to over 350c...today the temp is pushing towards 450c. Tomorrow will be the oven's first trial, where we will be taking the temp to 500c (ish)....to allow the hearth and dome to regulate itself and hold that heat. We will then let the oven fall in temp to about 350/400c before we start our trials on pizza baking.

I have made 3 different pizza doughs .....2 are in my fridge...slowly fermenting and the 3rd is in the freezer, which will be taken out 2/3 hours before shaping.

I will be making a fourth pizza dough this evening from a recipe I received from a Polish chap who works in my local Bakers.

I shall also be making a small batch of Naan bread dough from Madhur Jaffrays recipe to try out in the new Pizza/Bread oven.....If anybody is interested in this post ....who has a pizza dough recipe.....please let me know as I have 24hrs ...and all the ingredients to trial a new pizza dough recipe.

Re: Wood Fired Pizza Oven

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